29.03.2024

Hunting grounds

Hunting grounds called fit for wild beasts and birds of the territory, which can be used for hunting and game management.

The hunting ground

From this definition it becomes clear that hunting land does not include nature reserves, forest parks, green zones of cities and resort areas, although they, of course, is inhabited by different animals. Lands where it is impossible to hunting, including cities, roads, just 3 to 4% of the territory of the Russian Federation.

Wild, untouched by man nature there are few, fewer many types of game. But hunt, create hunting in the hunting grounds: And every hunter must learn the grounds of their region to know what they can inhabit animals. Each hunter, in addition, you need to know and those lands, which he was still going to visit. Therefore, descriptions of the land and we start the story of modern hunting.

The Arctic Yakutia

The hunting grounds of the Arctic

Across the Russian North from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka in width from 50 to 500 km stretching zone of Arctic deserts and tundra.

In the tundra only in may, opened the river. At the beginning of June on them somewhere still floating in lonely ice floe, and in August already intense morning frosts, in September, it’s snowing and it’s winter again. Only 110 – 120 days of heat, and the rest of the time cold. Eight months of the year here, “white silence”, the dead of winter. But in the spring almost all day the sun shines. Rapidly blooming tundra. Brown, red, yellow, green rugs brighten its uneven, strewn with saucers of lakes surface.

Towards the sun fly to the tundra and on the coast of the Arctic ocean, hundreds of thousands migratory birds: swans, geese, ducks, gulls, sandpipers. All day and all night does not cease their hubbub. In the short Arctic summer they need to have time to bring babies and prepare for a new return flight.

Only in the winter and autumn think the tundra is a harsh and unsettled

On the Islands of the White and Barents seas, on the coast of the Kola Peninsula are nesting Eiders. Their precious fluff goes into the making of warm and light clothing explorers. Millions of geese, geese and waders inhabit the tundra. Countless guillemots, forming the famous bird colonies.

Very much in the tundra partridges, they here is hunting.

In the Arctic and in the subarctic is about half the world’s stocks of wild reindeer. On the Taimyr Peninsula in the summer they kept about 400 thousand. But they live and around the Arctic – from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka. Deer hunting is permitted from 15 August to 1 September to 1 March.

Grow among tundra new towns emerge and expand in the city. They receive more lovers of sport hunting. In one Norilsk more than 5 thousand Amateur hunters. In some places close to large cities created the first sport of hunting.

Hunting cabin in the woods

Forest hunting grounds

In the forest zone the best protective and feeding conditions, it is the promised land for most wild animals and birds. From the forests a lot of hunting animals or settled from time to time migrate to the North in the forest tundra in the South in forest-steppe, and therefore, these subzones from a hunting point of view closer to the forests than the tundra or steppes.

But it would be wrong to think that the forests are inexhaustible. Many people think that the forest is more or less homogeneous solid mass, occupying more than half the territory of our country (910 million ha). But few take into account that specialists are conventionally referred to areas of forests and forest swamps, sometimes reaching gigantic proportions, and large areas burnt areas (and in fact the forest burns annually), and forestry and logging Redina. And if all this is subtracted from total forest area, it appears that in fact the forest is less by as much as 150 – 200 million hectares, meanwhile the wealth it exploited more and more.

The attentive traveler, traveling by train, for example, in the European part of the country, you will notice that the old forest is only to be found small Islands among the ruling mixed young forest. Still reduced the area covered with forest, in the Caucasus and in the Carpathians. If years 20 – 25 back products taiga was used a short distance from the villages, now the hunters or the gatherers of berries, mushrooms, nuts bombarded by helicopter to the most remote sites.

All this speaks of the enormous changes taking place in the forest. Know their needs every hunter – not only in order to protect the forest, but also in order to consider how changes to forests affect the living in it wild beasts and birds.

Forests of our country is very diverse in its composition and give shelter to many animal species, in different measure, providing them with food and protection. Even a novice hunter knows that grouse and grouse can’t live without coniferous forests, and grouse prefer deciduous low forest with berry bushes, meadows, felling. At the end of last and the beginning of our century in the European part of the country there are very few moose.

But since then great changes have taken place: on the one hand, has become very strict control over hunting elk, on the other hand, in the place of old forests due to fires and extensive logging has raised abundant growth, and therefore increased the amount of feed for moose feeding on the young shoots of pines, aspens and other trees and shrubs. So the moose became more. At the same time due to the reduction of the area of old coniferous forest has fallen and continues to decline, the number of grouse. Due to the use of pesticides in forestry and agriculture, due to the large number of vacationers, tourists, collectors of mushrooms or berries is reduced and the number of grouse.

Biologists-hunters, examined the potential of different forests for reproduction of a view of hunting animals. For example, in the old pine forest-the red bilberry the best conditions for capercaillie and slightly worse for black grouse. The pines, in which all plants of ground vegetation literally strangle the sphagnum, only good for grouse. Coniferous forests (except pine) are typically inhospitable wild boars. The best land for them – leaved forest with fruit trees, rich in different herbs.

The basis for the evaluation of different forest lands is a classification developed by botanists. It most closely reflects the vegetation composition of the forest, the hunters determine their value for different animals.

The composition of the basic rocks are divided into dark coniferous forests (spruce, cedar, fir it), light coniferous (larch, pine), small-leaved (birch, aspen, alder, etc.), broad-leaved (oak, bukkake, grebenniki, etc.), cedar stlanik and shrubs.

For field hunting, the most important coniferous forests, as they are the main procurement of furs, and from coniferous forests of the most valuable pine forests, and the least valuable – listvyagi (larch forests).

For the sport of hunting is especially good mixed forests, and the greater their diversity, the more different the game can inhabit them.

Each group of forests break even on the number of types that differ from each other in composition of the vegetation. In the name of the type include: the main tree species; the species dominates in the undergrowth, and the view or views prevailing in soil cover. For example, pine-fir forest-the red bilberry or grass-forb oakery with buckthorn.

Currently, in most cases it is known how much and what kind of game can dwell on every thousand acres of a particular forest type.

Knowing the forest and “requirements” different animal to its conditions, it is possible to systematically change the land in the interests of the hunting industry. For example, moose, hares whites and black grouse live in about the same area; they must be combined areas of old, mixed forest with meldolesi, logging, meadows, hay meadows and a small area sown with grain crops and meadows.

In each type of forest by the hunters know how to identify the stocks of feeds for different animals and, when necessary, to organize the feeding.

The forest attracts us with the greatest variety of hunts. That’s why we hunters should be its first guardians and protectors.

Hunting grounds near the water

You’ve probably already noticed that water always brighter than in the woods, in the field, more insects, more birds. Among the Sands and fields, in the woods or in the mountains – all the water attracts a variety of animals, some in the coastal and swampy thickets for nesting, the other for water, third for feed on aquatic plants. And if the forests after the breeding period silent if the mountains are almost always silent, the water is noisy from early spring to late autumn. To the shores of rivers and lakes stretch all the forest dwellers.

The hunting Lodge is a good resting place for hunters

Hunting would be much more boring and monotonous, if it was impossible to hunt ducks, geese, waders, if it was impossible, stand in a morning dawn with a gun, take and then for spinning or fishing rod.

The bays of the Caspian, Azerbaijan and the Black sea coast winters many waterfowl. Others arrive in spring from the banks of the Atlantic ocean, the Mediterranean, Iran, India or even Africa. Overcoming thousands of kilometers of difficult road, at an altitude of five thousand meters, over snow-capped mountains, deserts, flying over the Sands to the Northern water birds. And only here build nests, hatching.

But the shores of rivers and lakes, meadows, Islands – all land, internal waters and overgrown swamps are not equally suitable nesting sites for various waterfowl and shorebirds. Therefore, the task hunters, where necessary, to enrich the reservoirs forage to build artificial nests to protect nesting sites from their people and Pets.

The greatest variety of conditions of different sea-coast. Huge, similar to the system of lakes shallow bays, estuaries, and rocky, bathing in the waves of the shore, and rocky shoals, changing his form in the tides. Caspian seaside marshes are famous for the hunting of migratory geese in estuaries of the Black sea interesting hunting for coots and waders. In the forest-tundra and tundra in the North sea home to many ducks, geese and waders.

All water hunting grounds together with the adjacent shores of the modern game managers are divided according to their location on the group’s land Northwest, West, Central forest zone of the European part, forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part of the Russian Federation, the Caucasus and the Caspian lowland, the West Siberian plain, Central Asia, Far East, etc. this is Due to the fact that a variety of climatic, vegetative and economic conditions affect inland waters and the sea and, consequently, on the lives of their inhabitants.

For example, our European floodplain rivers almost everywhere under cultivation and therefore lost its importance as nesting sites of waterfowl. The floodplain of the Ob river and its tributaries continue to have for a nesting of great importance.

To know at least a little about the water land is required for each hunter, not to be mistaken in the choice of venue for an upcoming trip in the summer-autumn hunting (with the summer-autumn hunting waterfowl, we recommend starting young hunters).

The bog Pig

Hunting grounds in the marshes

Night mists are born in swamps. Blue-gray haze they pour over grass, white shawls spread through the forest and ghostly glaciers slide down rivers into lakes and rivers. Like a blanket, they all hid the heat of the day, land and water. And in the morning when the sun rises over the stubble of the forest, the mists collected in light clouds, soar up and melting in the depths of the sky. And exposed heavy dew misted the bushes and trees. Everything on earth has its own age. And swamp too. They are born in the “Prime of life” feed many birds and animals, and age.

When from the earth will break a thin stream of spring water and fill the grassy hollow, when the first water lilies will float on the ripples of the river, then comes the swamp. After that every year more and more violently will grow underwater and surface jungle. Of Elodea, water pine, pondweed stems white lilies, water buckwheat, and duckweed – all of them will be eager to fight for dominance in the water, for the prevalence on its surface. Wilt, they pastelet the bottom, the bog will begin to dry out, and less pure mirrors of water will look in the sky among solid carpet telorez or sedges. Then in the swamp can step willow, birch or pine. It will take many years and still is the youth of the swamp. Such young low-lying swamps called because they feed on the bottom ground, or key river and lake water.

In the young marshes the rats and frogs, newts. The water is teeming with caddis flies, larvae of dragonflies, predaceous diving beetles, water striders. Summer in the marshes grazing elk, in a thicket of reeds roam storocia boars. Harsh winter willow swamps are fed moose and hares. Without difficult bogs would have had many forest dwellers, waterfowl and marsh birds and all the trouble: neither the feed, nor places for nests or shelter from predators.

Where swamps disappear, become dry forests, fly past the rows of geese and ducks, cranes and more do not worry, do not worry people of the trumpet, shouting at the sunrise. Millions of square kilometers occupied by swamps in our country. One Vasyugan swamp on the watershed of the Irtysh and Ob extends to tens of thousands of square kilometers, 30 – 40% of all forests are swampy.

The wildest, most unexplored corners of the keep swamp. Ten tons of cane, or eighty tons of broad-leaved cattail, or four hundred pounds of cranberries, or two hundred pounds of cranberries yields one hectare of wetlands. And also in the swamps grow cloudberries, blueberries, kreznica, mushrooms and medicinal plants. In some countries, the marshes have begun to use seasonal, flooding during the wintering waterfowl and again, draining for agriculture and livestock.

The swamp age. When among dense thickets of sedges appears green and spagnuoli moss, will begin the “transition age” of the swamp. Soaking up a huge amount of moisture, moss will grow powerful carpet. They will supplant and strangle cold and hunger, the green brothers themselves increasingly will be fed by rainwater. Replaced the green mosses finally come the white sphagnum. Birch, spruce, aspens give way to pines. Swamps will be a star – raised bogs and sphagnum will switch to power the atmospheric rain water.

Occasionally birds fly in here, and even fans of the marshes – wild boars only in cases of extreme hunger come deep snow in the winter to feed on moss.

Bogs store a lot of water. Ground water in them is not extracted by plants. Mosses accumulate water from the atmosphere and it is very reluctant to vaporize. Someday people will use the old swamps as reservoirs. And while they dry, they cultivated crops or planted forest. But Woe to those who, without reverence react to the marshes and drain them in a row, regardless of their status and age.

Because swamps can be in the lowlands and at elevations, in floodplains and at the edges of lakes. When they dry up in a row, falling groundwater level, become short and rapid spring floods, shallow lakes and rivers; land that has not known the drought, we have water from expensive cars expensive water. Nature’s cruel revenge on inept owners. Frequently in drained areas the thin layer of fertile soil is eroded, demolished spring waters. Neither meadows nor arable land – a sand. This is especially scary in the lands where the rainfall is less than evaporation, there is the destruction of wetlands is a direct road to droughts.

In the fall, when you escorted the last flocks of migratory birds and admire their swift flight, tell the marshes “thank you.” It is they who have grown, reared the winged tribe.

Kurai steppe

Hunting grounds in the steppes and semi-deserts

Steppe, unspoiled, wild, remained in the beginning of our century, and in some places in Siberia only some thirty years ago the main inhabitants of the steppe were marmots, larks, eagles.

Now from Moldova to the river Obi in a continuous belt stretching already mostly ploughed the steppe, and then, in Novosibirsk, this area is broken, forming separate Islands also plowed Biysk and Kuznetsk steppe for Ob, Minusinsk on the West Bank of the Yenisei river, Khakassia, Western Sayan, Dauria – in Transbaikalia. There is steppe in Yakutia and the Chita region.

Typically, the step seems to us a boundless plain. In fact, the terrain it is often smoothed. Even the upland steppes are almost always located on more or less flat plateaus or mountains with smooth sloping slopes.

In the steppes of the great variety of plants. Unplowed remnants of the forb steppe with broad-leaved grasses there at the level of Tula, Ulyanovsk, Omsk. To the South of their little spots left in some places feather-grass steppes. Forb-grass steppes dominated early in Transbaikalia, and steppe meadows in Yakutia. Different combinations of herbaceous vegetation can be found in the mountain steppes of the Caucasus, Altai and Sayan mountains. In most steppe areas are now regular forest shelter belts.

Semi-desert is a transition from steppes to the Kingdom of sand dunes.

Once the steppes were inhabited by innumerable herds of wild horses (Tarpan), saiga, ROE deer. They blazed trails, muck Russian land, cereal seeds trampled into the soil. Rodents (gophers, marmots, etc.) mixes the earth with the digging of holes and contributed to seed. Now some of these animals is not at all, others have very little.

A novice hunter needs to know that agriculture in forest-steppes and steppes not only change the composition of wildlife in these areas, but often, unfortunately, negatively affects the number of game animals. But a beginner hunter may be the worker of agriculture: agronomist, a mechanic. So he must be careful to use pesticides and fertilizers (shelf open storage in fields, for example, often causes poisoning of grey partridges or migratory waterfowl). During haymaking or harvesting machines are usually ruining a lot of young partridges, hares. To avoid this, on the harvesting machinery set-scaring devices, harvesting from the field center to the edges, and not Vice versa.

With the plowing of the steppes, with the appearance in them of forest strips left in the semi saiga, almost disappeared marmots became less gophers, gerbils. But in the steppe hunting farms near Rostov and Stavropol was quite a lot of grey partridges, hares and foxes. Places remaining in some places sagebrush and wormwood-cereal steppes still bustards and little bustards. Remains of animals and especially birds are attracted to rivers and lakes in the steppes. Here, the water, live pelicans, glossy IBIS, spoonbills, herons. Of the waders, Avocet., ruffs, stilts, plavniki etc.

In the semi-deserts much poorer soil, they are ordinary sand, loam, clay. Vegetation does not form a continuous carpet. Turf individual plants do not close the whole earth; dominated by wormwood, typchak, tumbleweeds. In saline areas produce large and absolutely devoid of vegetation surface, called taki-Rami. In the dry season takyrs with cracked dense ground is like concrete field of aerodromes, and after rains, when they are transformed into shallow lakes, according to him, neither to pass, nor to pass.

It is characteristic that the greatest diversity of wildlife of open spaces now can be found in semi-deserts, but not in the cultivated steppes. In the semi-desert, the so-called black lands in Kalmykia and in the lower regions of Kazakhstan are concentrated now saigas, nesting Demoiselle cranes, inhabited by ground squirrels, jerboa, corsac foxes, steppe eagles.

Steppes and semi-deserts has not lost its attraction for hunters, and hunting them is unique. Only in the forest-steppes, steppes and semi-deserts can be hunted with greyhounds dogs for hares or foxes, hunting birds – falcons and eagles.

Sultry, heavy breathing and tiring road of the desert. Very rare plants underfoot, pale blue sky, a clock hanging in the quivering air, the yellow haze of dust. The desert does not give the hunter his wealth, and takes the last of all living things. Wicked hot winds whipped stinging sand nudity and compensation for testing – Mirage or oasis short respite. Is it because of the possibility of hunting in the desert against the least studied and specialized hunters are limited to a statement of fact: the desert, they say, is not dead, but to sense from it a little.

Here the plants are found only in separate clumps or stems. In a typical desert dominated by sand dunes, sometimes with sand shrubs of acacia, Ph. D., of Calligonum, ephedra, saxaul.

Few animals inhabit the country of mirages. Yellow susliks, gerbils, jerboas, and hamsters – a common rodents that live in the sand. A little here and birds. Only such as saxaul Jay or steppe grey Shrike and the Raven, adapted to the harsh conditions of heat and sand. However, there are a game species – a desert partridge, but these little birds, and hunting them is not very complicated. The ungulates in some of the desert come only saigas. Only richer in fauna of deserts and semi-deserts are the types of reptiles and insects.

Alas, hunting in the desert is not such an interest as in other areas. Is it basically just where in the country wedged a Mirage of a lake or river, on the banks and meadows grow in other places for many miles of cane (height 4 – 5 m) jungle – reeds, go up some places on the Islands of willows. Water generously granting life to the countless number of hunting animals and birds. The reeds live wild boars, hares, jackals, jungle cats. Especially a lot of waterfowl nest here, among which the usual cormorants, pelicans, ducks, geese and glossy IBIS.

Reed jungle – a kind of peace. Excess heat and moisture it resulted in a truly greenhouse conditions. And because in the deltas of desert rivers and lakes are unusually rich life, and his riches she sharply different from the surrounding Kingdom of sand and heat.

Hunting grounds in the mountains

Hunting grounds in the mountains

In the mountains on a relatively small area, usually a belt, at different heights meet and forests, steppes, and Alpine meadows, and the peculiar, almost tundra, the vegetation on the boundary of eternal snow.

Animals, mountains, preferring a particular zone, as a rule, do not live only in it, and overlook the neighboring zones, and, conversely, the inhabitants of treeless mountains often descend to the forest. The warmer the climate, the higher the mountain rises the forest belt. And in the mountains North of the forest is sometimes only the lower part of the southern slopes.

Hunting in the mountains is very heterogeneous in composition land. Because almost everywhere in the territories of such farms is not only a forest belt. The Alpine and subalpine zones are a huge wealth of herbs. But even where the climate is very dry and grassy cover is developed poorly, in the mountains inhabited by a hunting animal. For example, in the semi-desert on the composition of vegetation in the southern mountains of Armenia one can come across leopard, bezoar goat and birds common partridge. Above the forest zone live tours, chamois; in the mountains of the Small Caucasus moufflons; in the Tien Shan – Tek, argali, snow leopard; in the mountains of Eastern Siberia, in stanove ridge and bighorn sheep.

To hunt in the mountains harder than any other place. You need to have a strong and resilient muscles, the trained heart. Ascend, descend and rise again on the slippery from the rain the grass, on the slopes, but sometimes even with a load, maybe not everyone. It is necessary to keep from under the feet not showered stones to stumbles, not falling into the abyss or to fall into the sinkhole. And at the same time we must not miss the sudden take-off or snowcock chukar and be able to sneak up on careful examination.

Anonymous hunting grounds

How to completely eliminate Unallocated land?

Before answering this question it is necessary to digress. It is known that population density is correlated with many physico-geographical and kotelnicheskiy signs.

In the area of sport hunting, occupying 17.7% of the territory of Russia, concentrated 3/4 of the entire population of our country.

Approximately the same area but with a population 7 times smaller, is polipropilena area. Vast and sparsely populated space, mostly areas of the North, form the commercial area.

During the years of Soviet power arose hundreds of new cities and towns, including in the far North. Even more industrial and energy centers in the taiga and tundra occur in the ninth and subsequent five-year periods. To determine how this impact on the reduction in the area of field land take for example a city like Norilsk.

In Norilsk 4800 hunters who go hunting at a distance from the city, from West to East and 100 km from North to South a distance of 70-80 km, learning about 700-800 thousand hectares of land. If we add on the town and it’s businesses, it appears that the occurrence of such a large industrial complex as Norilsk, makes about 700 thousand hectares of hunting grounds in the area for recreational hunting. This allows to conclude that the area of the fishing zone will be reduced by 10% only after there is more than 210 cities such as Norilsk and its population will increase by 27 million, i.e. doubled. This happens, apparently, not so soon, and biological resources of the taiga and tundra for a long time will be subject to commercial farms and have an important economic value.

We will continue our calculations on concrete examples. In the European part of Russia to the commercial area includes the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, Komi Republic and the Karelian Autonomous Republic. As polupromyshlennyh we took the Vologda, Kirov, Gorky, Perm and Sverdlovsk region. The area of sport hunting represent 17 oblasts in the Central and Central black earth economic regions. These groups of regions differ in the composition of the hunting grounds and the nature of their use.

In all areas there is a considerable Fund of free land, which can be extended the area of fishing and sporting farms. On 1 January 2009 in the Russian Federation there were 70 state promhoza. In the coming years it is planned to organize 80 new gospromkhoz. Will increase the number of promhoza of consumer cooperative societies.

Experience shows that the farm area of 27 thousand hectares to meet the demand for hunting during the year 127 people. Consequently, the security of every hunter land shall be 200 ha. In fact, on one hunter in the area hunting has 141 hectares reserved for societies land, polipropilenovoy area – 90 hectares, in the area of sport hunting-108 ha. If the load lands on each hunter to bring up to 200 hectares the area of land sports destination in Kotelnichesky areas will increase accordingly. The whole area around the sports area with this rule may be assigned primary groups and societies of hunters. Of course, it is not only the allocation between land groups. At the same time it is necessary to improve the organizational-mass work, improve the cultural level and consciousness of hunters, ensure their active participation in the construction of hunting.

Different is the case in the commercial area. In full satisfaction of hunters-fans of a group can be assigned to no more than 10-12% of the land. The rest area has a commercial purpose and can be used to Prokhanov or assigned to teams polupromyshlennyh. Some of the land for a long time will remain free, not involved in the economic turnover. For this zone, due to a shortage of field workers, is characterized by complex and patchy use of biological resources of the taiga and tundra.

Improvement of hunting grounds

Economic efficiency of land reclamation native hunting grounds and some others can be identified only after several years, so you can recommend to lead in every sector, primarily in the experimental farms, story book farm. In this kind of the annals of agriculture should reflect all changes in the composition and quality hunting grounds, and with it the impact of these changes on the number of hunting fauna.

It should be noted deviations in meteorological conditions, yield forage, carried out activities on reclamation lands. The entries in this book will serve the further valuable material for conclusions and generalizations about the environmental and economic efficiency of all of the changes in the Foundation of the hunting grounds of the farm.

When planning a hunting economy it is necessary to proceed from the fact that they can provide hunting grounds, and not from the fact that they give improper exploitation. Should all the conditions of maintaining hunting economy to consider in the dynamics. The final General indicator of the use of state hunting Fund in the economy should be the gross hunting and related products derived from 100 or 1,000 hectares of land. Each square kilometer assigned to the society the land should be used to the maximum benefit.

Under the influence of industrialization and the rapid development of technology has accelerated the process of transforming earth’s surface. On the globe there are more than 1 billion hectares of land, the loss of biological productivity in the result of irrational human activity. The natural environment is changing so quickly that some scientists are already talking about the critical condition of landscape areas. In this regard, becomes dynamic and the structure of hunting grounds. In the new environment consultations the Belarusian delegation problems can be solved only in connection with human activities in other sectors of the economy and from the standpoint of environmental management.

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